The Art of Jealousy
by Kelirehenna
Summary: Two's company, three's a crowd... [BrooklynMystel]


Title: The art of Jealousy

Summary: Two's company; three's a crowd...

Rating: Once again dancing on the borderline of K+ and T. Darn it, I just can't make up my mind.

Pairing: Brooklyn/Mystel, and Mystel's inner mind sees Hiro/Brooklyn basically in everything.

Warning: .. There's the pairing, right above this. You do the math. Also contains sweet characters using naughty language.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and the others... I'm not saying that I'm succeeding in that.

Beta: The one I've been using for a year, now. -bows down to honor this-

A/N: I have now officially been 18 almost a week. I wrote a BrookMyst-fic to celebrate that.

I wrote this under a heavy influence of depression over Hiro/Brooklyn. Those of you who like that pairing a lot more than Brooklyn/Mystel, read with caution. I'm not bashing Hiro (... much, anyway, or too seriously) or anything in this, I'm just showering my own love-pairing with, well, love.

Eemh. On with the story, people?

* * *

Mystel had grown a flaming aversion to Hiro in just few months. The older male came to visit his home a bit too often, and he always stayed a bit too long. He never got the hint when Mystel tried wailing how late it was or how Hiro must have been really tired and in need of sleep. Mystel suspected that even jumping around naked and waving a banner with the words "GO HOME!" wouldn't have done the trick.

Of course generally speaking, Hiro wasn't such a bad guy. Mystel was ready to admit that had he lived alone in his apartment, he might have really enjoyed Hiro's visits. However, he did not live there alone. He lived together with his long-time boyfriend, Brooklyn Masefield. It was the uncanny way of Hiro getting along with Brooklyn which made the blond resent him so much.

Mystel was, in fact, jealous. He didn't like admitting it, and he most certainly didn't like feeling it, but it wasn't as if anybody had given him choices on how to react to the situation. Whenever Hiro came around, Brooklyn seemed to only focus on the older male, and while talking with him - even though he and Hiro would make sure Mystel didn't feel completely left out by sometimes saying something he could also relate to - the redhead pretty much ignored the whole fact that he had a boyfriend, usually sitting right next to him on the couch, hoping to get some attention once in a while. Most of the time, Mystel's hope was useless.

Brooklyn just seemed to be different whenever their former coach was around. More adult, to begin with. The two of them seemed to have so much fun together. And - Mystel bit his lip as the thought entered the realms of his mind – they seemed to flirt a bit, too. Innocently, teasingly, tactfully enough to make Mystel only incredulous but not certain. But it was enough to make him wonder if Brooklyn actually wanted an older lover. Maybe he had already grown bored in Mystel; they had been together for an awfully long time for someone who could become bored as quickly as Brooklyn did. Maybe all the traits Brooklyn had so many times said to adore in Mystel had lost their attraction: the naivety, the passing childlike behaviour, the never-ending cheeriness...

Mystel snorted. Not that the last one was even true. Right now, he wasn't feeling cheery at all, and he also knew the reason for it. And the reason decided to ring his doorbell that very minute. Mystel glared at the door, hoping it to eat the person on the other side. No such luck. He got up to his feet, walked to the door and, keeping his stare fixed on the floor carpet, opened it.

"Heey there, little guy!"

_Little guy..._

"Things going good for you?" Hiro asked and ruffled Mystel's hair, rather similarly how an uncle would do to his nephew.

_Just give me a fricking lolly and ask me to go fetch my "daddy", will you?_

Mystel automatically backed away, keeping his face blank.

"Sure. Brooklyn's in the living room. He's probably expecting you."

Most likely he would be. After all, Brooklyn had been the one to call Hiro to come over. All without mentioning it to his loving boyfriend, who might have wanted to spend some quality time with him, alone, without older men hanging around.

"Great. Say, do you have any coffee?"

Resigned, Mystel went to kitchen to let Brooklyn and Hiro have their privacy.

It went on for about an hour or so. Mystel ambulated in and out of the room, when bringing the photo album for Brooklyn to show some pictures, when getting them more coffee and biscuits. He felt more like a servant than an inhabitant.

Slowly, Mystel filled with a need to assault Hiro with a rubber hammer. But after a while, his desire to slaughter the older male turned into ferocity against his boyfriend, who has really the one to blame of it all. Mystel thought about being overly dramatic and shouting 'I'm breaking up with you!', just to see the reaction. He might have really done it, if he hadn't been scared of the possibility that Brooklyn would have yelled 'Finally!' and started snogging with Hiro right before his eyes.

"Mystel?"

_Yeees, my boyfriend who's obviously flirting with our former coach?_

"Mmh?"

"Me and Hiro are going downtown to join a protest march against cruelty in animal laboratories. I thought that you might like to come, too?"

Mystel, sitting all curled up in his chair, looked up to see Brooklyn and Hiro. They were both watching him, smiling so sweetly it made him sick. In his mind, Mystel could see Brooklyn and Hiro marching hand in hand, sharing hot, passionate, public kisses before giving a speech. They would most likely be wearing similar shirts, too.

Slowly, Mystel stood up. He didn't say anything, just walked to the window.

"Mystel? We need to be leaving soon. Are you coming or not?" Hiro asked, staring at the blonde who remained quiet. Mystel opened the window. Brooklyn took a step and reached his hand.

"Uh, Myst...?"

Mystel jumped out of the window.

Brooklyn and Hiro stayed quiet for a while. The redhead was faster to snap out of it, and he turned to look at Hiro and smiled slightly apologetically. For a guy whose boyfriend had just jumped out of the fourth-floor window, he looked rather peaceful. But then, Brooklyn knew his love rather well.

"I don't think I will be coming to the protest today, Hiro."

xxx

Mystel had found himself at the meadow nearby the area they lived. It was the place where he usually ended up when he felt this bad. The minutes would go by as he watched the butterflies flying around and tried to get one of those to land on his hand. Brooklyn had always been gifted with that sort of things. Perhaps Mystel innerly hoped that if he could be more like his boyfriend, the redhead would never leave him.

Someone sat down next to him. Mystel didn't have to look to know who it was; far deeper things gave the other's identity away... It was the feeling Mystel got, even when things weren't perfect. The other would come to him, and everything would suddenly be alright, at least for a short moment; like a calm before the storm.

There were a few minutes of peaceful silence. Mystel enjoyed the calmness, not sure what would be ahead. He was afraid it would be a gale.

"I though you went to the march", he finally said, quite dispassionate.

"After you jumped out of the window, you mean?"

Mystel quieted down. Then he turned to face Brooklyn, in order to say he was sorry.

"So maybe I overreacted a bit."

The problem was that he really wasn't sorry. Instead of openly making out with Hiro to protest environmental issues, Brooklyn was there with him. He couldn't quite see the bad part in that.

Brooklyn just smiled joyless.

"Mystel... are you jealous to Hiro?"

"No!"

Silence.

"Maybe a bit..."

More silence.

"Okay, fine! Yes, I am jealous. Why do you need to flirt with other people so much?"

Brooklyn sighed, placed his hands on the other boy's shoulders and turned him around while pulling him closer, the blonde's back against his chest.

"Mystel..."

The blonde could only mumble something incoherent, his mind was concentrated on the surprising closeness and Brooklyn's abdominal muscles.

"Have I..." Brooklyn started and kissed Mystel's shoulder, "ever..." his lips moved upwards on the boy's neck, "given you..." he bit the neck gently, receiving a pleased little whimper, "any reason..." he nibbled the blonde's ear before finishing the sentence, "to doubt my fidelity to you?"

Mystel had trouble with finding a strict answer with Brooklyn doing all the licking, biting and whispering to his ear. The redhead was very well aware how sensitive Mystel was with his ears, and how he particularly felt about his boyfriend ravishing them so unabashed. Mystel could feel Brooklyn grinning at his helpless state.

_Damn, sneaky, _sexy_ bastard._

"YouandHiromakingoutinachurchtoprotestgayness?" he mumbled, desperate to somehow express his worries.

Brooklyn stopped playing with Mystel's ear for a second and just stared with a puzzled grin.

"Butterfly, dearest... You have a weird, weird mind. And I love you."

It wasn't as if Mystel didn't hear those three little words often enough, it was just that they felt even better after an argument they hadn't actually had.

"But Hiro did encourage me to ask something from you."

"You are asking my permission to elope to the Netherlands with him?" Mystel asked. He even managed to smile to show that he wasn't that serious.

Brooklyn placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Almost. I was thinking about getting a pet."

Mystel turned around, confused.

"But I told you months ago that I don't mind you getting a pet. What's there to ask?"

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about getting one for myself", Brooklyn said, and smiled unusually worriedly, "I was thinking that maybe... maybe we could get a pet for _us_? A pet we would both, officially, own."

Mystel didn't say anything to this.

"Or is it too soon for that? I don't want to pressure you, I, ah, we already live together, I get it if you think that –"

"Can it be a hedgehog?"

Brooklyn looked relieved beyond limits.

"African pygmy hedgehog sounds great."

"Can it be a _blue_ hedgehog?"

"I could paint it blue if you insist."

"Wouldn't the hedgehog resent that?"

"Not if we ask its permission and act delicately, I'm sure."

Something about Brooklyn made you quite certain that the hedgehog really wouldn't have minded turning blue in his hands.

Mystel wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, who was quick to return the gesture.

"I love you", he whispered quietly. He didn't say so as often as Brooklyn did, because innerly he was always afraid that it would be the wrong thing to say. Brooklyn never seemed to mind, though.

The redhead held him a bit tighter.

"Thank you... for that", he whispered, hands caressing the blond hair. Mystel wanted to ask something about this curious statement, but came up with absolutely nothing to say.

"Oh, and Hiro will be leaving for Japan the next week. His work period here is finished. He asked whether we wanted to help him to pack up his things", Brooklyn said, like he had just recalled the whole existence of the rest of the world around the meadow.

"Are you sure I can share you with someone else, just like that?" Mystel asked, teasing smile on his lips. He felt good enough to joke about the whole thing, now.

"You'll be there, too. You can keep an eye on me, make sure that I'm behaving myself. We can secretly flirt with each other right in front of Hiro's eyes, if you'd like."

Mystel laughed. Suddenly Hiro didn't seem so bad after all, and he was sitting really close to his loving boyfriend. It was moments like these that made the life worth living.

A butterfly landed on Mystel's hand, and almost immediately another one came to rest on Brooklyn's. Mystel wondered whether the butterflies were in love, too.

"Brookie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we stay here for a little while?"

"As long as you'd like", Brooklyn said softly, caressing the other one's cheek.

And so they stayed in the meadow, watching the butterflies, alternating between sitting and laying down next to each other. They didn't go home until the night fell upon them and butterflies changed to moths. They did stop once on their way home, to observe some wild hedgehogs on their nightly food-hunting trip. Mystel took Brooklyn's hand as the redhead told that hedgehogs usually have about 6000 spines in their coats and that they reach their sexual maturity in the second year after they are born. Brooklyn knew a lot about hedgehogs, and a little less about what Mystel would have really wanted from him.

* * *

I have my own theories why Brooklyn calls Mystel butterfly. I just doubt that humanity really cares about my.. -cough- interesting thoughts.

And I honestly have no idea why Brooklyn would think that Mystel is interested in random bits of information about hedgehogs, much less about their sex life. Neither has Mystel, really. But he deals with it, because he likes hedgehogs, and he likes his boyfriend.

Reviews are the best gift a writer can get. So do submit one, if you bothered to read the story. I'm interested to hear your opinions. :)


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